Friday, 15 March 2013

We only just met Jou Edogawa at the end of last week's episode of Sasami-san@Ganbaranai, but as this latest installment we're already informed of her little (or maybe not so little) secret. Now, how do I put this sensitively?....

Edogawa has a penis. Only sometimes, but she has a penis. Don't ask... mostly because it isn't actually explained in this episode. Anyhow, having come across (get your minds out of the gutter) this problem, Sasami has been sworn to secrecy by Edogawa, and quite understandably so. Although the whole thing is still bugging our protagonist rather, it's quickly put to one side as Sasami starts to enjoy her second year of high school as she goofs around with Kagami, and things only look set to take a further upward turn as Edogawa herself invites her, and all of her classmates, on an all expenses paid trip.

Unfortunately, this is also exactly the moment that 'flu decides to strike Sasami's body, leaving her too ill to attend. Luckily for her, Amaterasu's powers are sufficiently wide-ranging to allow her to mould Tama's body to resemble hers, while getting to enjoy the break remotely via a mixture of a "divine chat room" and hooking into Tama's senses. Maybe she hasn't thought things through, but Edogawa quickly finds herself in some sticky situations (I said get your minds out of the gutter) as a result of bringing the group to a hot springs - a situation not help by Tsurugi's usual turn of pervertedness. With knowledge of Edogawa's secret on-hand, Sasami uses Tama to protect her friend - but is Jou really Sasami's friend?

In light of everything this series has thrown at us, I'm not sure that I can particularly mark this episode as being any weirder than any of its previous installments just on account of a member of the cast now having a part-time phallus... but what the heck, this week's Sasami-san@Ganbaranai was weird. In a way, it's a shame that the episode felt the need to be so heavy-handed in its breathless horniness, as when it wasn't being constantly incorrigible it was actually pretty funny before descending into a sexual mire of its own making. If nothing else, you won't find anything much crazier than this series in 2013 I would wager, and it delivers its insanity with panache, but at moments like this I feel like it just doesn't quite have enough to deliver the quality alongside that insanity.